Sarcastic wrote:I tried the Lego LOTR demo today. I dunno. Kinda OK. Hehe. Best I can do. I wouldn't mind playing it, I guess.

Have you played any of the other Lego games? Just curious.

I tried one other demo. It was a Pirates of the Caribbean one. That was months ago. Same thing, really. Seemed OK, kinda fun, but with all the other games around, I didn't see a need to play it. Not sure if a short demo gives a proper impression in these games and I would think they're probably bigger in scope if you play the full game. I think a short FPS demo, for instance, can give a better perspective because that's all about gameplay. I'll add that I didn't like running around to pick up the stupid coins when I broke something. It was pretty tedious even in the short demos. I didn't enjoy the combat in the LOTR demo.

Yeah, the core of all of the games is pretty much the same... You go around breaking ****, collecting studs, using the abilities of different characters to solve puzzles and collecting stuff.

There can be some major differences in the games themselves... the older ones, for instance tended to have a single map for each portion of the game where you just selected a stage. LOTR has a map, but you have all of Middle Earth to explore besides the stages themselves.

These games are not for everyone, that's for sure. The theme of the game may affect your overall enjoyment of a particular installment, but I don't think there's anything so drastic between them that would make you suddenly change your opinion if you played another.

LOTR is my favorite due to the production and subject matter... but I could see someone who doesn't like LOTR finding it somewhat boring due to the scale of the game... whereas I enjoyed the hell out of walking around these different places and exploring. /geek

Sarcastic wrote:Are these games puzzle-heavy? And are the puzzles hard enough where you have to work your brain a little? That would make it sound more interesting.

Yeah, every stage includes puzzles that you need to solve using the different character's abilities. In many cases, you will not be able to solve every puzzle during the initial play through (Story Mode) and must return later in Free Play where you can switch to other characters who have the abilities you need.

A lot of the puzzles you can figure out without too much trouble, but there are always a few that you have to work for. Sometimes even knowing what to do is not enough as every game has at least a few items that are a pain in the ass to get and require patience to not throw the controller at the screen.

Combat is always part of the game (and the combat itself is generally similar across all games), though in the case of LOTR... there are several battles so some of the stages are obviously combat heavy.

One difference with LOTR and a lot of others is that it doesn't have any vehicle based missions. There are a few sequences where you are riding on horses, but obviously, no pod races like in Star Wars or flying around in the Batwing in Batlman.

the wicked child wrote:A lot of the puzzles you can figure out without too much trouble, but there are always a few that you have to work for. Sometimes even knowing what to do is not enough as every game has at least a few items that are a pain in the ass to get and require patience to not throw the controller at the screen.

Well, I guess lots of puzzles makes it sound better. As I said, I wouldn't mind playing if it fell in my lap, just that I didn't get that immediate "I gotta have it" vibe. Like I did with Spec Ops, for instance. Moments into that demo and I knew it was a real gem. I'll put the Lego games on my list of maybes.

LeopardLetang wrote:i haven't played a video game for a year and a half

What on earth do you do all day? List some of your "better" hobbies.

1. drink2. ...hmm

Not sure what ...hmm means but I'll guess you either pass out or make out with the girlfriend. Well, I think there is some room for video games. It's great entertainment. Remember, no matter how much your mom says you're too old to play, she's wrong.

the wicked child wrote:A lot of the puzzles you can figure out without too much trouble, but there are always a few that you have to work for. Sometimes even knowing what to do is not enough as every game has at least a few items that are a pain in the ass to get and require patience to not throw the controller at the screen.

Well, I guess lots of puzzles makes it sound better. As I said, I wouldn't mind playing if it fell in my lap, just that I didn't get that immediate "I gotta have it" vibe. Like I did with Spec Ops, for instance. Moments into that demo and I knew it was a real gem. I'll put the Lego games on my list of maybes.

Understandable. For me, I enjoy the Lego games and I love LOTR, so I definitely "had to have it".

I love two Star Wars games for the PC. I played both a number of times because I just couldn't get enough. To this day I have not come across a SW game that plays as well as those two. Pure action games.

I enjoyed Galactic Conquest, a mod for BF 1942, that had "Star Wars" content. Lucasarts made them stop production on it, or so the rumor goes, but it was a cool way to use some of the iconic vehicles. Oh, the fights over the AT-ATs when the Hoth map dropped...

Rylan wrote:I just want an HD update of Morrowind. That game was amazing and I logged way too many hours into it. Absolutely the best free-roam armour and swords game I have ever played.

I played through that game at least three times with three different characters. It was a great game. I actually got a little misty eyed while playing Skyrim when I learned that in the intervening years between the games, the Red Mountain erupted and devastated most of Vvardenfell. Places like Vivec, Ald’ruhn, and Sadrith Mora are just gone.

It's cool reading about areas/characters in past games. It's like, "Yeah, I've been there before", or "I've met that character before."

I was just reading something about Sheogorath last night that I thought was interesting,

I've been playing Lego Batman 2 since finishing Lego LOTR. It is decent so far, but I'm not enjoying it as much as the original, and definitely not as much as LOTR.

Basically, it just throws you right from one story mission to the next. Occasionally you have a bit of a chance to explore Gotham before starting the next stage, but with limited character sets at this point, not really worth it. It seems like there is just one story in this game, a drastic change from the original where you got to do the Batman missions, but then also all of the Villain missions as well... it was a ton of fun playing as the villains.

Now, I still have a lot of stuff to do, so there is time for the game to grow on me. Apparently the rest of the Justice league is about to join the fray, so perhaps it will get more interesting now. As a note, Superman is both the most awesome and boring character all at once. He is pretty much invincible (except for Kryptonite), can fly, is super strong, has freezing breath and a laser beam. There is almost no reason to ever play as another character unless you require a specific skill for an obstacle/item.

The big thing that I hate so far is the controls... they just don't seem to be up to par at times in this one. Quite a few obstacles have been hindered/made extra difficult due to non-responsive or awkward controls. In some cases I had to attempt the obstacle many times before the seemingly normal action would occur at the end... such as climbing up a ladder and your character inexplicably shooting off in the wrong direction at the end, causing you to have to redo the whole damn thing.

Also a small rant about IGN's reviews... They gave Batman 2 an 8.5 while giving LOTR a 6.8. Largely, the reasons cited for this is that it was the "same old thing". To me, they just decided to pick LOTR as the one to take the hit on this because any one who has played these games knows pretty much what to expect from one to the next... it tends to be your familiarity with the source that leads to your enjoyment of one game or another. But since LOTR is a big name, they decided to dock points now after how many games. Silly. The readers average of 9.1 shows that it was a ridiculous overreaction.

Finished the story which opens free play for Gotham City. There are 250 gold bricks, 20 red bricks and 50 "citizens in peril". Each stage has one of these citizens which you need to help and the rest are strewn throughout Gotham City. Sometimes you just have to kill the thugs threatening them, while others require specific abilities.

It is clear that this is where some of the newer concepts I saw in LOTR started here. However, the ideas were a lot more raw and not executed quit as well. There is a map. You have to find various Remote Batcave Terminals to actually unlock that part of the map. Unfortunately, you can't access the map directly. You have to pause and then select View Map from the menu. This is a huge hassle seeing as Gotham city is a lot more busy than Middle Earth, so you need the map more often. Also, it does not have the luxury of the mini-map that was in LOTR... there is some kind of sensor type thing, but it isn't overly useful in my experience.

Getting all of the items is going to be a pain due to the layout. Even reading a FAQ isn't enough to find something as you need to have activated that area's terminal to even see it on the map. You can at least warp there from another terminal once you've found it.

Terminals are also the key to unlocking the various criminals. Every time you activate one, a villain becomes available in the vicinity. You then have to locate them (a mini-map would sure come in handy here), fight them, and then purchase them to unlock them.

Another complaint is that unlike the first game, you do NOT get access to all the different suits as selectable characters during Free Play. You still have to seek out the suits to switch into them. I'm not sure yet how tedious this may or may not be... it is possible that some of the other characters will replicate a large portion of those functions, but I'm pretty sure that at least a couple of them are unique to the suits.

The Flash is very fast. (Maybe too fast when he starts running) He also builds fast. Unfortunately, he then stops for a second afterwards to brag. Gee thanks...

It feel like getting 100% in this one may be tedious... not sure I'm looking forward to it. Exploring Gotham City definitely lacks the charm of exploring Middle Earth for me, and the lack of an adequate on screen map to help guide me through the city makes it much worse. I kind of wish I had played this one before LOTR because some of the advancements spoiled me.